Governor Vetoes Shoot First

I want to thank Governor Dayton for vetoing the terrible Shoot First bill yesterday.  As much as we might disagree about the City's role in financing a stadium for the Vikings, I'm glad he's there to block bills like this from becoming law.

Bottom line: this bill would have made Minneapolis residents much less safe.  It would have increased the risks to Minneapolis police officers.  It would have done away with any expectation that people in threatening situations seek to leave the situation before resorting to deadly force.  It would have opened Minnesota up to a flood of guns from other states with much less stringent licensing requirements and made it harder to remove guns from households with domestic violence problems.

And it's just not necessary. Even the bill's most fervent backers admit that no one in Minnesota has been unfairly prosecuted for shooting someone in self defense.  So if there isn't actually a "castle doctrine" problem to be solved, what's the point of this whole exercise?

Obviously, the point is to incrementally erode what's left of Minnesota's common sense gun controls, bringing us down to the level of other, more dangerous states.  And to curry favor with powerful special interests like the NRA who do not have the best interests of Minnesota residents in mind.

I must admit that this whole debate is mystifying to me.  Months after a three-year-old child was tragically killed by a stray bullet in Minneapolis, is the most important issue for legislators to address really that not enough people are being shot in the state of Minnesota?